Working In a Pandemic
Surviving a Pandemic as a Digital Nomad
Working as a remote freelancer for a travel startup during a pandemic is an odd combination
“Sometimes I still feel like all of this is just a dream, that at some point it will all crumble and break apart, you know?”
It was the beginning of February this year; I was in Cape Town. The person I was speaking to was my colleague and manager, Fabian.
The company we both worked at, Mapify, had been a massive game-changer in my life. Not only had it made me adore my job (which I’ve come to realize is something quite unusual), but it had made even the wildest of my dreams come true: working and traveling as a digital nomad.
When I started, the words “remote work-setting” weren’t as commonly used as they have been these past months. Nor did the reason for said work structure grow out of necessity; instead, it was a choice linked to desire, a desire for a better quality of life.
For me, people that worked remotely as digital nomads had really understood it. They had understood life and the magic of living it wild and free, with no strings attached and no office desk waiting for them from Monday to Friday. Spontaneity was their culture, and the whole world was their playground — an inspiring mantra to live by.
And I had become one of them. Rio, Cusco, Medellin, Tulum, Hawaii, Bali, Barcelona, Miami, Cape Town; I loved the life I had created for myself. I was working as a freelancer for a travel startup I was passionate about, with a team I felt part of, in places that the majority of people only know from holiday postcards.
A Nomad in a Pandemic
Little did I know that that innocent, gratefulness-filled fear of mine that I shared with Fabian was a premonition of what was about to happen. My life, and the life of millions of others, was just about to split wide open.
Shortly, all the lessons I had learned and the ideals I passionately lived by as a digital nomad would be put to the test.
When the global pandemic hit, everything changed.
You see, working as a remote freelancer for a travel startup during a pandemic is an odd combination. All of the words from that job description scream insecurity.
The travel sector was ruined. The fact that the company was in its early foundation stage wasn’t helping either. No one at Mapify knew the next step, but neither did any of us have the courage to talk about it. The tension was thick in the air, and it felt as though we were all working on half-hearted projects, waiting.
The majority of the team was put on paid leave, while others had to reduce their hours by half. To my surprise, nobody got fired immediately — “we are a family,” the founders kept on repeating.
The managing team did a great job of handling the crisis. They were brutally honest and transparent while at the same time, being hopeful and solution-oriented.
Initially, we were given a few months in which we were guaranteed to continue at the company. Nevertheless, the founders were meticulously assessing company figures every month and were aware that they were only getting worse. And as the only freelancer in the company, I was expecting to get fired at any time.
Being a Nomad Prepares You For Anything
I was in South Africa when things started to get really bad. All my European co-working friends in Cape Town were set to leave the country in a matter of 24 hours. They had either rebooked their flights, scrambled to buy new ones, or were queuing at their respective consulates to seek help. Being amid a pandemic, 15.000 km away from home, was terrifying.
Nobody knew what to do.
The only thing I knew was what not to do — and that was leaving Cape Town.
Even if my rational mind was telling me different, my heart belonged there. I decided to wait it out and accept all the consequences; knowing I could lose my job and run out of money; knowing I could get stuck in a continent that was not my own, nowhere near my close friends and family.
But wasn’t that precisely what traveling solo had been teaching me all along — to accept uncertainty as part of my journey, and life itself? Because for every magnificent moment that this nomadic lifestyle had given me, there was always an untold story underneath. Lessons of how to surrender to the unforeseen, adjust to the new or unwanted, and how to become friends with the puzzles of life.
Now was the time to prove that I had become resilient to change. Hadn’t I?
My emotional stress levels were through the roof. I had always known how vulnerable it was to be a digital nomad: the constant moving, the unconventional work structure, the neverending goodbyes and beginnings, the lack of a goddamn address. The thrill of it all had somehow covered up these disadvantages, but with the whole world on standstill, the insecurities bubbled to the surface.
Amid my crushing doubts, it struck me: I just had to trust — as I had learned to do.
With every flight, bus or train canceled, every time getting lost, every moment of instability at work, every emergency, I had learned to listen to my intuition. That was the single most important thing that being a digital nomad had taught me. It was the foundation for everything, past, present and future.
And that intuition told me to stay calm and believe that something new — maybe even life-changing — was awaiting me. My inner voice, even if quieter than usual, was confident and reassuring.
From Nomad to Founder
Eventually, South-African borders closed, and I got stuck. Eventually, I lost my job at Mapify. Everything that I feared would happen happened. But I didn’t let it hinder me. I trusted that life would take care of me.
As things started shifting, things started changing — and what a change!
I started a company.
It all happened so quickly that I never had a moment to question the move. I simply went for it. Looking back, I can see now how destiny was playing its cards in perfect timing and order. Cookie Jar was meant to become part of my life.
You see, being stuck in a severe South African lockdown while working only half the time for Mapify gave me plenty of hours to allocate to my new project. Moreover, the core values behind Cookie Jar — reflection, gratitude, positivity, presence, and connection — profoundly appealed to me; and I also knew that these values would soon become extremely pertinent to everyone suffering under the crisis.
Of course, I had my doubts (once the legal contracts started piling up, more than once did I ask myself, “What on earth are you doing Lis? This project is way too big for you!”)… I was about to start a company during a pandemic, remotely, without ever having met my co-founders.
It was all based on trust, and following my intuiton. I didn’t know any of them except for one — Hans Brunk — who had been an intern at Mapify back in 2019. Little did I know that, one year later, I would be in daily contact with him and the rest of the Cookie Jar team, bringing this concept to life, despite the unprecedented environment around us.
Start Listening to Intuition
No one will ever be prepared for a pandemic, or any of life's major events. There is no right or wrong, and no holistic or correct way to deal with the pain linked to it. What I have come to understand, though, is that it all seems less intense when you follow a belief-system and a life-rhythm that frequently takes you out of your comfort zone and confronts you with change.
My life turned upside down, as it did for all of us, but I felt I could deal with it in a rather calm and experienced way thanks to my years as a digital nomad.
I am not saying that everyone should be a digital nomad to become comfortable with change. Rather, I am saying that everybody should dive more deeply and more often into new experiences and opportunities, and take decisions that are different from those they’re used to.
Because by challenging and channeling newness, we will get habituated with the flow of life. Unknowingly we will silence our fears and start listening more — and with greater trust — to that thing called intuition.
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